Bardot to do a Depardieu if elephants are put down

WHEN Gerard Depardieu declared his love for Vladimir Putin and praised Russia's ''great democracy'', one would have been forgiven for assuming that the ongoing saga of the French tax row could not get any more surreal.

But that would have underestimated Brigitte Bardot, the actress, who declared on Friday that she would be joining the actor in his escape from France unless the lives of two circus elephants diagnosed with tuberculosis were saved.

Bardot, a veteran animal rights campaigner, said she would emulate Depardieu's request for Russian citizenship if the unfortunate animals, called Baby and Nepal, were put down. She said that a court decision to kill the elephants was a sign of the ''cowardice'' and ''impudence'' of ''those in power''.

Bardot had already spoken out in support of Depardieu, the 64-year-old actor who announced amid much fanfare that he would take up residence in Belgium to avoid the wealth taxes levied by the French President, Francois Hollande.

The move drew fierce criticism from left-wing politicians and commentators.

Depardieu, who has become the face of resistance against Mr Hollande's 75 per cent tax on millionaires, responded by saying that he would return his passport.

On Thursday Mr Putin granted him citizenship, prompting Depardieu to declare his love for the Russian leader and his country. Bardot, 78, had made no secret of her feelings about the row, saying that Depardieu had been the ''victim of extremely unfair persecution''.

She said on Friday that she too would take Russian nationality ''if the powers that be have the cowardice and the shamelessness to kill Baby and Nepal''.

The elephants, which are in a zoo in Lyon, became something of a cause celebre when the authorities ordered them to be put down last month.

Bardot's animal rights foundation has drafted numerous letters in their defence, and a petition signed by 71,000 also won the support of princesses Caroline and Stephanie of Monaco.

The outcry resulted in the animals being granted a temporary reprieve over Christmas.

Their owner, Gilbert Edelstein, the director of the Pinder circus, began legal action in an attempt to block a court ruling that the animals posed a public health risk and must be put down.

He insists that neither of the elephants has tuberculosis and that they were wrongly diagnosed in 2010.

''If one wants to kill a dog, they claim he has rabies,'' he said. ''If one wants to kill an elephant, they claim he has tuberculosis.''

The animals have been isolated and kept from public view at Lyon's zoo, The Golden Head Park, for two years.

Telegraph, London

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